Deportation - dismantling - expropriation Jenaer Glaswerk under Soviet command

Abstract

Fifty years ago, in October 1946, the Soviet occupation forces issued two Orders which had far-reaching consequences for Jenaer Glaswerk. The first entailed the conscription of 14 glass speciahsts to be sent to work in the Soviet Union for five years, and the second called for the parent works in Jena to be dismantled. After the Americans had deported 41 members of the professional and managerial staff in June 1945 ("The Odyssey of 41 Glassmakers"), events in October 1946 ushered in probably the bitterest chapter in the history of the Company . The expropriation, without compensation, of the works in 1948 and their conversion to a stateowned factory (volkseigener Betrieb) was the absolute low point. Under the exceedingly difficult pohtical and economic conditions prevailing at the time, combined with staff-related problems, the employees of Jenaer Glaswerk went to great effort to rebuild the works. The events of this period resulted in a split-up into two companies for more than forty years.